Freak storm claims Qld family's new home

A QUEENSLAND family cowered in a shed as a freak storm tore apart their almost-completed home.

Chris and Melissa Short had poured their life savings into the new house, which they were due to move into in five weeks.

It was uninsured and now they are left with nothing.

"It took two minutes for everything to just fall apart," Mrs Short said.

The couple, their four-year-old daughter and Mrs Short's 82-year-old grandmother sheltered in the shed they had been living in as a super cell tore through the tiny town of Pratten, southwest of Brisbane, on Wednesday night.

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"It's just very hard to take in at the moment," she said.

"We're left with nothing."

The storm, which authorities believe may have been a tornado, ripped the roofs of another six homes and destroyed a commercial business and silo.

Power lines, fallen trees and debris have been left scattered throughout the streets.

Mr Short says a storm warning for the area was cancelled, but within minutes of the announcement he knew something was wrong.

"It sounded like a bloody helicopter or an F-111 (jet)," he told AAP.

When the wind died he went outside to find his new home strewn across the yard.

"Our roof is wrapped right around the tree out back like a circle," he said.

His wife says the family don't know how they will go on.

State Emergency Service (SES) local controller John Newley said the trail of destruction through the small town was only about 60 metres wide.

"It's just one of those freaks of nature," he said.

"Every now and then we get a storm like this in winter, but not often."

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Bryan Rolstone says it was likely a tornado had formed, but it was too dark to actually confirm it through observation.

He said wind speeds of about 60km/h were recorded on the cell's outer edges, but they would have been much faster in the middle where most of the damage occurred.

The Department of Community Safety says ambulance crews only had to treat one man for cuts to his leg and there have been no other injuries reported so far.

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